by simon baird

Friday, December 05, 2008

Wiki Linking Game

Also known as Wiki Racing. I learned about this from Greg. The rules of Wiki Linking are as follows:
  • Two topics are agreed upon, a start topic and and end topic. Each topic should be something that you'd expect to have a Wikipedia entry.
  • Contestants begin at the Wikipedia page of the start topic and must finish on the wikipedia page of the end topic according to the following:
    • Only left click and back button are allowed
    • Only follow links ending in wikipedia.org (no references or external links)
    • No keyboard, no copy/paste or other tricks and no searching within the page either
  • To explain a bit better, each contestant has their own computer. Prior to the start they get their browsers on the start page. Someone calls out "GO!" and the race begins. Whoever gets to the end page first is the winner.
The winner can pick the next target. And optionally the end target could be used as the starting point for the next round. Or whatever. Make up your own rules and variations.

It's fun and educational! Optionally add alcohol and music according to your preferences.

When you get the target page first call out "bingo", or "in your face, suckers, i WIN!!" or something similar and brag by showing everyone your history in the history drop down and how many steps there were.

Optionally record particularly successful rounds on your blog along with the time taken. Losing players should also show their browser history for general ridicule. Players with a broad general knowledge will be successful.

To give you some idea, here is an example round
Start: Donald_Bradman
Finish: Needle_nose_pliers

A winning player might have done it this way:
Donald_Bradman
Royal_Australian_Mint
Engravers
Steel
Tool
Pliers
Needle-nose_pliers

That was in fact a real game by Glenn who won on his debut in about three minutes.

A harder one (though you should be able to make up your own by now):
Thom_Yorke to Hibiscus

Update I reworded a little above to explain it better.

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